Swerve Living.

It’s been a long road but we are finally in building mode. We hope to have the construction crews on site in a matter of weeks. Swerve Living is an environmentally friendly condominium complex. It’s designed for urban living in the downtown of Red Deer. During this past week we’ve been setting up the sales office and showroom. Right now we have condos available for sale; some have sold in the first week. This Saturday between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. we are hosting an open house at Sunworks. You are invited to come down and have a close look at the complex, ask your questions, and catch the excitement we feel for this project.

Swerve Living has been in the planning and design stages for about three years. With the help of officials, both elected and employed, of the City of Red Deer, we’ve been able to design a building that meets the new Alberta Building Code and embodies high quality environmental standards. This is a super insulated building which consumes no gas to operate. It is designed for future solar integration and wind energy. Our municipal Planning Commission and City Council has supported this project from the beginning.

Swerve Living is a traditional building in many ways. It however keeps in mind the aesthetics of our downtown and integrates well into our changing community as we imagine and plan for new residential living in downtown.

As a long term business resident of the downtown it is quite exciting for me to see the changes happening here.

Executive Place on the corner of Ross and 49th Avenue has nearly reached its maximum height. They’ve started putting windows up and soon they’ll be solely working on the inside. Once that project is complete the City will build Cenotaph Park which will create a vibrant cultural space downtown. The park will be directly in front of the building where the construction staging area is now. Ross Street won’t return to four lanes of traffic; it’s great to see how Ross Street has changed, from a place that the strippers and drug lords hung out to the busiest and most vibrant street in Red Deer. The merchants on this street have worked tirelessly to create something important for us all.

I believe that as Swerve Living progresses it will further the transformation of the downtown along Gaetz Avenue. If you haven’t been downtown recently you really must visit us. There is now a wide range of international restaurants, all independent and all great places to eat — from Fijian to Thai, from Mexican to Lebanese. The shopping is the best in the City and the increasing walkability of the downtown makes it a rich cultural experience. It’s a good reminder that our roots in Alberta are deeper than our oil and gas industries: we come from all over the world and we have a rich and diverse heritage. Downtown is the place to be; it’s not for mall shoppers. It’s for those that seek to connect with this place we call Red Deer in a much more substantial and rich way.